History of Drama Medieval and Renaissance Drama

Medieval Drama  Earliest evidence of theatre in the Middle Ages is the Liturgical Drama.  These Roman Catholic “plays” were performed on Easter and sung in Latin.

Medieval Drama  Performers included priests, choirboys, and nuns.  As popularity rose, the plays were also performed on Christmas, and they were translated into many different languages.

Medieval Drama  Liturgical dramas branched off into Saint Plays and Mystery Plays.  Saint plays are based on legends of the saints.  Mystery Plays are based on biblical history.

Medieval Drama  Early plays were staged in churches, on platforms called mansions.  Eventually, the plays left the church and were performed in town squares.

Medieval Drama  By the late 14 th Century, the medieval craft guilds had taken over the presentation of liturgical drama.  Toured the country and presented plays on pageant wagons, which were stages on wheels.

Medieval Drama  The upper level was a platform stage.  The lower level was a dressing room.  Each wagon was decorated according to which play was being presented.

Medieval Drama  Secular dramas, known as folk dramas, also developed quickly.  Usually performed at festivals during planting time, harvest time, and Christmas.  Include famous stories such as Robin Hood.

Medieval Drama  Soon the church also began producing plays not meant for a specific holiday celebration.  These Morality Plays taught right from wrong by taking on the form of allegories.  Symbolic characters represented abstract qualities, such as hate, sin, lust, etc.  Everyman is the only Morality Play that is still performed.

The Renaissance in Italy  The greatest theatrical contribution from the Italian Renaissance was the opera.  Attempted to revive the simplicity and humanism of Greek Drama.  Emphasized a solo vocal line and simple instrumental accompaniment.

The Renaissance in Italy  Commedia dell’arte or comedy of the profession was also performed.  This was a specialized type of drama based on comic improvisation.  There were no completed scripts—only plot outlines.  Most plays dealt with fathers putting obstacles in the way of their children falling in love.

The Renaissance in England  Christopher Marlowe was the first playwright to write in unrhymed verse.  His plays, including Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, and Edward II present the glory and horror of the age.

The Renaissance in England  His most famous production, however, is Doctor Faustus.  Story of a man who sells his soul.  Bridges the gap between the medieval age and the Renaissance.

The Renaissance in England  Ben Jonson was a master of English comedy.  Wrote Volpene, The Alchemist, and Every Man in his Humour.  Widened the scope of humor so that any strong personality trait made a character laughable

The Renaissance in England  William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time.  The plays were meant to be seen by a boisterous audience accustomed to shouting approval and hissing displeasure.

The Renaissance in England  The plays kept the audience’s attention by being exciting, moving, and violent.  Therefore, they are better seen instead of read.

The Renaissance in England  The characters form the central interest of Shakespeare’s plays, and personalities were almost immediately defined.  Since there were no programs, he used soliloquies to delineate characters.  These are speeches delivered by an actor alone on stage that reveal the character’s most inner thoughts.  Ben Jonson is known to have said, “Shakespeare was not of an age, but for all time.”

The Renaissance Playhouse  In Renaissance theatres, the audience stood around a platform stage.  The playhouses were many-sided buildings with two levels for acting and three for seating.

The Renaissance Playhouse  Since the stage was in the center of the room, little to no scenery was ever used.  Behind one side of the stage was the tiring house, which functioned as the actors’ dressing room.  Underneath the stage was a cellar and trapdoor that allowed actors to disappear in the middle of a scene.

The Renaissance Playhouse  Above the stage was the Heavens, or a roof supported by two ornate columns.  Painted on the underside were the sun, moon, stars, clouds, and zodiac signs.  Actors often spoke of heaven and earth, and would point to these symbols to create the illusion of a microscopic universe.

The Renaissance Playhouse  Above the Heavens was a very small house known as the scenery hut.  This structure housed the machinery that raised and lowered actors to the stage.  When a play was about to start, a trumpeter played in the tower above the scenery hut and on the days of performances, a flag was flown.

The Renaissance Playhouse  Because there was no electricity at the time, the area surrounding the stage, known as the pit, was open for the sky to supply sunlight.  The members who paid a penny to sit in the pit were known as groundlings.  These people were generally apprentices, soldiers, sailors, country folk, and “cut-purses” or “pick- pocketers.”  The pit consisted of ash, sand, and hazelnut shells, because the audience frequently ate during a play.

The Renaissance Playhouse  The more refined audience members occupied gallery seats at an additional fee.  The most expensive seats were next to, above, or even on the stage.

The Renaissance Playhouse  The first public playhouse in England was built in 1576 by James Burbage.  Referred to simply as the Theatre and located just outside of London.  Later, in 1599, the most famous Renaissance Theatre, named the Globe Theatre was built.

The Renaissance Playhouse  It was named as such because of its round shape.  It was here that Shakespeare produced most of his plays.  However, in 1613 it burned to the ground.

The Renaissance Playhouse  It was immediately rebuilt and operated until 1642, when all English theatres were closed by the Puritans.  A modern reconstruction of the theatre, renamed Shakespeare’s Globe opened in 1997.